Tag Archives: Cindy Needham

Initial Pillow No. 2

Posted on March 20, 2015 | 16 comments

For my first initial pillow, I chose to create a pillow cover for my youngest grandchild.

This time, I have created a pillow covering for my oldest grandchild. His favorite color is orange, and he is partially color blind.

I wanted borders around the letter and star so that I could use a variety of free motion quilting designs.

Whether I am free motion quilting a pillow cover, or a full-size quilt, I like to begin by stitching in the ditch to stabilize my project. It also allows me to remove the pins so that they no longer hinder my stitching (I quilt with a domestic sewing machine).

Wonderfil Invisfil is my favorite thread to use for stitching in the ditch.

I used one of Cindy Needham’s stencils to easily mark quilting lines on the star points. I could have used several choices of markers, but I used chalk that I pounced on.

I also like to use Pam Clarke’s stencils for marking. The grids are great for spacing even distances for parallel quilting or many other types of designs.

The rest of the free motion quilting on the pillow cover was done without marking. I use Aurifil 50 weight thread for the quilting.

This is the finished pillow before washing:

The pillow back has a concealed zipper.

There is a lot of texture after washing!

I am doing Option #1 from QuiltShopGal’s Free Motion Quilting Challenge 2015 March (featuring Patsy Thompson). Here is a link to the post that shows my participation in the Patsy Thompson part of the Free Motion Quilting Challenge 2012.

I am linking up with quiltshopgal.

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Tagged Cindy Needham, cushion, fmq challenge, free motion quilt challenge, initial, LCsCottage, Pam Clarke, Patsy Thompson, pillows, quilting, QuiltShopGal

Free Motion Quilt Challenge Summary

Posted on December 20, 2012 | 5 comments

Thank you so much to SewCalGal and her talented and generous free motion quilting teachers! I have enjoyed a year’s worth of practice and growth since joining the Free Motion Quilt Challenge. Each month, in 2012, a new challenge was presented.

In summary:

January

Frances Moore gave us a fun leaf design to practice free motion quilting. She also gave us a video to view. You can see this post here.

February

One of my favorite experts, Diane Gaudynski, taught feathers this month. What a treat! You can see this post here.

March

Ann Fahl, suggested keeping a binder/journal of free motion quilting ideas. She also suggested learning meandering patterns other than stippling. You can see this post here.

April

Don Linn created a video tutorial for April. He showed a great transfer method for quilt designs! He also described an easy way to come up with quilting designs. You can see this post here.

May

This month’s free motion quilt expert was the generous Leah Day. Leah gave two assignments…a Double Stipple and Railroad Tracks. You can see this post here.

June

The June Free Motion Quilting Challenge was a tutorial by Cindy Needham. Cindy gave us so much useful information and lots of practice! I loved this month! Cindy suggested the ‘divide and conquer’ method. You can see this post here.

July

Angela Walters, Quilting Is My Therapy, taught how to section off the work and then fill in the sections. She calls this quilting design Tiles. You can see this post here.

August

The August Free Motion Quilt Challenge was a tutorial from Wendy Sheppard. You can find her blog at Ivory Spring. Wendy shared her “Jester” free motion quilting design for this challenge. You can see this post here.

September

The September Free Motion Quilt Challenge was a tutorial Paula Reid. Paula’s tutorial had us practice with a stencil. You can see this post here.

October

Teri Lucas had us begin this month’s tutorial by drawing our names and designs on paper. We branched out from there. You can see this post here.

November

Trapunto added for Texture

Sarah Vedeler had us practicing spiral variations; lots of fun! You can see that post here.

December

Patsy Thompson shared border design and quilting tips. She created a terrific video to demonstrate her tips. I loved this month! You can see that post here.

Linda Moran, Susan Brubaker Knapp, Diane Loomis and Teri Lucas all provided bonus challenges. I look forward to doing those after the holidays. What a wonderful year of quilting!

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Tagged Angela Walters, Ann Fahl, Cindy Needham, Diane Gaudynski, Diane Loomis, Don Linn, fmq challenge, Frances Moore, free motion quilt challenge, LCsCottage, Leah Day, Linda Moran, Patsy Thompson, Paula Reid, Sarah Vedeler, sewcalgal, Susan Brubaker Knapp, Teri Lucas, Wendy Sheppard

Free Motion Quilt Challenge – June

Posted on June 29, 2012 | 30 comments

The June Free Motion Quilting Challenge at SewCalGal is a tutorial by Cindy Needham. Cindy is a talented and professional quilter who travels all over the world. She is also an author, a designer, and hostess of retreats. Be sure to visit her website to see her fabulous quilts!

Cindy gave us so much useful information and lots of practice! I loved this month! Cindy suggested the ‘divide and conquer’ method. In other words, divide the work into sections and then fill in the sections. Instead of an entire blank canvas (or fat quarter, as in my case) to fill, I could simply concentrate on a section at a time. Baby steps.

Here’s my piece:

Cindy suggested using a contrasting thread. Obviously, I didn’t pay any attention to that. Don’t be like me.

The only time I changed threads was when the spool I was using ran out. Yup…I was using up thread, and I emptied three spools.

Do you see the Jester hat in the quilting above? Wendy, over at Ivory Spring, does it much, much better! She has a tutorial on how to quilt the Jester hat. I need more practice! I was confused frequently while trying to change directions.

More close-ups: